Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Martyn Sargeant  01902 555045 or Email: martyn.sargeant@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Andrew Wynne and from Cllr Linda Leach, for whom Cllr Mary Bateman substituted.

2.

Declarations of interest

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes of previous meeting pdf icon PDF 62 KB

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 24 March 2016

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 24 March 2016.

4.

Matters arising

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no matters arising.

5.

Exclusion of press and public

To pass the following resolution:

 

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information on the grounds shown below.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

That, in accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act relating to any individual.

6.

Investigation of a Councillor

To consider the Monitoring Officer’s report regarding an individual Councillor – to be tabled

Minutes:

Cllr Brookfield asked Kevin O’Keefe, Director of Governance, to provide an overview of the investigation report. He noted that the intention had been for the report to be tabled at the meeting.

 

Kevin O’Keefe explained that the Monitoring Officer receives and considers complaints about any potential breach in the Councillor code of conduct. He advised that, when it appears possible that a breach may have occurred, it is initially the Monitoring Officer’s responsibility to investigate the substantive allegations.

 

Kevin O’Keefe explained that he had received an anonymous complaint about Cllr Banger and the discharge of his duties as a Councillor. A copy of the complaint had also been received by the Managing Director and local MPs. He advised that, having conducted an initial review of the allegations, he had appointed one of the Council’s investigators, who has a CID background, to investigate the matters raised.

 

Kevin O’Keefe noted that there had been no evidence to support the original allegation, that Cllr Banger was not resident at his declared address. However, he advised that the investigation had yielded evidence that material omissions had been made from Cllr Banger’s register of interests, compounded by a failure to declare those interests at the Licensing Committee of which Cllr Banger was a member, moreover that, despite the issue being highlighted during the investigation, the omission had not been rectified.

 

Kevin O’Keefe explained that the role of the Standards Committee at its meeting was to determine whether Cllr Banger’s conduct might amount to a breach of the Councillors’ code of conduct. He emphasised that the Committee did not need to agree whether a breach had occurred, that decision to be made at a future meeting of the Standards Committee, which would consider the allegations in detail (if that were the agreed pathway).

 

Resolved:

That the Standards Committee should meet to consider whether Cllr Banger had breached the code of conduct.